Bradford Freeman, last “Band of Brothers” survivor has died

CALEDONIA, Miss. (AP) — Bradford Freeman, the last survivor of the Army unit featured in the World War II oral history book and miniseries “Band of Brothers” has died at the age of 97. Lowndes Funeral Home in Columbus, Mississippi, says Freeman died Sunday at Baptist Memorial Hospital–Golden Triangle. He will be buried Friday in Caledonia, Mississippi, where he lived. Freeman was an 18-year-old student at Mississippi State when he enlisted to fight in World War II. He volunteered as a paratrooper and became a mortarman in Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, fought in Operation Market-Garden, and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, later participating in the occupations of Berchtesgaden, Germany, and Austria.